


Lioness

by turuneshaquila



Series: The Lioness [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Escort Service, Human Trafficking, Wish Fulfillment, blatantly unrealistic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28479114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turuneshaquila/pseuds/turuneshaquila
Summary: Because their company is selling off escorts, a trafficked woman takes on the role of escort strategist to high-profile underground crime lords to raise their company's prominence and price.
Series: The Lioness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086068





	1. The Deal

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not writing these in chronological order, so I apologize in advance! One day, I hope, they will actually be properly organized. Meanwhile, look forward to random characters, timelines all out of whack, and a whole lot of unrealism.

“What, come to make trouble again?”

The Lioness gave the Manager an arch look.

“You have got to be one of the most failed investments I have ever made.”

“I take a _lot_ off your chest.”

“You do, but that would make sense if you were an employee, not property. If the scars on your back haven’t reminded you yet.”

She gave him another look.

“Well?”

“I have a proposition to make.”

“You will finally sleep with people for money.”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Rent me out as an escort.”

“I’m trying.”

“A high-value escort.”

“I’m trying.”

“I don’t sell my body.”

“What, then?”

“Strategy.”

The Manager studied the Lioness’s face. Like all the other girls, she had been bought with the intent of training her as a high-value escort. Like the _geisha_ and European courtesans, they were trained to entertain with their minds and skills beyond the bed. Besides the major languages, they also studied culture, arts, politics, and conversation. He was in charge of programs, and as one of the most learned girls they had bought, the Lioness had become effectively second in command. She made sure the girls kept to the programs, fought for each one to have personalized specializations, and drilled and tutored excellence into them. That way he could focus on finding their clients.

This is when they had hit a snag: the protective Lioness. As a martial artist in her previous life (and in her current life, thanks to the Manager giving in and getting the girls world-class trainers in dance and martial arts), she knew what it took to give someone a black eye. It didn’t matter how much they paid. The girls studied the art of knot-tying and pain-play, and understood it, but the Lioness refused to have them return to a client they did not want to.

At first, it didn’t matter. The girls and women were a cut above the rest. Their skills and the long waiting list kept their prices high, and regular clients became normal. Some girls even had exclusive clients, and devoted time and energy to studying them in particular. The Lioness only had two demands: no one got sold off, and no one was bought. She had favor with the Manager (too much, everyone but the girls thought), and money was not scarce, so her insubordination was tolerated until the day one of the girls was sold off.

The Manager had warned Management what would happen, so they had not informed him ahead of time. To make sure he wouldn’t warn her, they sent him to a client meeting on that day. As a result, the Manager arrived when they were already lashing the Lioness in a fury. She had actually made it out of the girls’ quarters and into the Management offices to demand they buy the girl back. Management had managed to acquire some injuries in the wake of her rage, so they were angry.

The Manager held back the lash from the Lioness and threatened to turn it on the girls instead, so she restrained herself and glared instead. They confined her in the clinic and the Manager let the business run as usual. The girls were not stopped from seeing the Lioness, and she would not rest until the Manager investigated where the sold-off girl had gone. Once they found out, the Lioness asked no more, but he knew without asking where he would find her if ever she got free. He fervently hoped she’d be bringing cash and not a _katana_ to that household.

“You will sell strategy.”

“Do you doubt me?”

No, he didn’t. “Will you sleep with them?”

“No. I will have more credibility if I don’t.”

The Manager’s lips twitched. “I need to launch you properly.”

“No more sales. No more.”

“You are not in a position to make deals,” the Manager reminded her, as if they were not in the middle of a negotiation.

The Lioness looked him in the eyes, then forced herself to lower them. “I know.”

“Why do you put yourself to so much trouble?”

“I die inside, or I wager my body and my life, and die fighting. One is more profitable to you than the other.”

The Manager laughed at the ending. “Deal.”

“Charge a lot!” She told him.

“I’ll launch you like never before,” he promised.

“Deal.”


	2. The Target

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because the Manager agreed to let the Lioness sell strategy, the Lioness picks her first target, Richard Ilytian, to make her debut with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have vague references floating around, because as the Doctor says, "A lot of planets have a North." This is how I'm (rather badly) trying to get away without mentioning actual places.

When the Lioness came to the Manager’s room, he had spread out files of different potential clients on the desk.

“Shall we?” he said.

She sat down and opened one, then closed it and put in a side pile.

“Too low-profile?”

“Too old. They need to be young enough to need my help and have less self-confidence.”

The Manager nodded and filtered through the remaining folders. The Lioness waited until he was done before picking up another one.

Thirteen files later, they had a small but growing pile of likelies and another of unlikelies.

“What are you looking for?” The Manager asked.

“What are _you_ looking for?” The Lioness replied.

“Oh, so you want my opinion, now?”

“I want your perspective, anyway.”

The Manager shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Relative inexperience, but a good enough family and connections to not be ignored. Not enough natural strategists around him to advise him, not very many people he fully trusts. When he networks, people will want his support, but they need his skill and decisiveness to actually depend on the connection.”

She nodded. “Young enough to want to learn. Sweet enough to want to be honest. If his sincerity can be the foundation, it will maintain his credibility even if I’m not there.”

“Awww, you do care.”

“Shut up.” The Lioness handed the Manager a file. “This one. Good night.”

“Good night.”

In the limousine taking the Lioness to Richard Ilytian’s house, she browsed through the guests at the charity ball they were attending that night. As a power escort, she was in embroidered forest green silk, with intricate patterns in straight lines on the lapels and hems that were a nod to the Northerners who were the majority there. Her makeup was understated as usual, but the beaded headdress and dangling earrings framed high cheekbones and a straight nose.

“How are you?” The Manager asked.

“Since you don’t normally drop the girls off, of course I feel more awkward.”

“You’re not looking me in the eye.”

The Lioness looked up and raised her eyebrow at him.

“All of your defenses are up. You’re going to make the poor kid awkward.”

“Give me some credit.”

“I refuse. I only know your rebellious side.”

The Lioness suddenly grinned. “That’s true. We’re here.”

The Manager caught the Lioness’s wrist, and she let him. “Call, and I’ll come for you.”

“That’s a bit overkill, don’t you think? See you tomorrow. Take care of the girls for me.”

The Manager sat back as she closed the door, and muttered, “I think it’s the other way around.”

The Lioness confidently went up the front stairs to the door, which a butler opened for her without question. In the underground, the limousine was its own passport. Her cape was taken from her at the door, and she entered the front hall.

Richard Ilytian came down quickly, in a traditional black tuxedo and modern tapered slacks. “Sorry, we weren’t planning to leave until later, but you could stay in the library first.”

The Lioness walked over to him, straightening the shoulders of his coat and fixing the lapel with as little ceremony as a younger aunt would have. “You look well,” she said, familiarly but without false affection in her voice—she was generally incapable of lying, which the Manager had despaired of multiple times.

Richard stood stock-still when she touched him, but now he flushed as a favorite nephew might. “Thank you.”

“I have a gift for you.” The Lioness took a package from her coat, and unwrapped a short cape, broad in the shoulder and wide in the collar, secured in the front with a chain. “I heard you served in the Royal Guard in your country?”

“Ah, yes.”

“The Northerners appreciate a military background. This would be set off that dress uniform perfectly.”

Richard blinked. “How did you . . .”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” The Lioness retracted the cape slightly. “I just assumed—”

“No, it’s fine, sorry.” The gentleman in Richard was everywhere near the surface, and the Lioness wondered how much of a fight they would have in getting people not to take advantage of him. “I just don’t really like to wear the uniform. Kind of feels like showing off.”

The Lioness’s lips quirked. “Then you’ll be in excellent company at the ball.”


	3. The Entrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The most important part of a party is the entrance.

Their limousine was in line for the red carpet drop-off at the ball when Richard Ilytian’s foot started tapping. He was in dress uniform, high collar, straight pants, and gleaming boots, the short cape a beautiful addition and a nod to the Northerner presence.

The Lioness restrained her urge to step on the very tempting shiny boot, and smiled instead. _I’m nervous too._ “The car can go around again.”

“We’ll need to go in anyway.” Richard glanced through the window at the lights and many many guests.

The Lioness studied his expression, then looked in the same direction. “Men hide their fear under coats and escorts, women hide theirs under jewelry.” Carefully she unpinned her headdress.

Richard turned when he saw what she was doing, and helped her put it away. He looked confused, but it felt ungentlemanly to ask why.

She switched out the jeweled earrings for simpler platinum bulbs that matched Richard Ilytian’s cape chain, and swept the rest of her hair up above the nape. She added a few rings to both hands, then flexed her fingers like a fighter would.

 _Oh, shouldn’t do that. I look nervous._ The Lioness smiled at Richard Ilytian. “When we walk in there, you will have the best accessory of the night.”

“Which is?”

“Me!”

The laugh in her eyes offset his tension, and he chuckled.

“You think yourself too new to their world to make a difference, too inexperienced to cut a deal, and you don’t want to be the same as them anyway.”

Richard Ilytian waited for the rest of the lecture, but she had stopped. So he nodded, and smiled ruefully. “Yes. I don’t want to be the same as them.”

“Yet I picked you.”

He glanced up at her. “Yes, you did.”

“Don’t you want to find out why?”

“Yes. I do.”

 _Heaven and earth, I hope I made the right choice._ The Lioness smiled, slow and wide.

The limousine door opened in front of the red carpet, a black-clad servitor stepping to the side to clear the way. A long-legged, broad-shouldered young man in heavy dress uniform under a beaded cape stepped out, the cape swirling with his perfect about-turn. He held out a gloved hand, and it was taken by fingers ringed with jewels beyond commercial worth. The Lioness stepped down, her lighter cape floating behind her as she moved. A bare throat rose slim from the lining of an embroidered collar, ears simply adorned with platinum, hair swept high without additional jewelry.

“The Lioness.” Even the camera bulbs had ceased to flash, every photographer stunned at the realization. “The Lioness is here.” The whispers swept down the crowd, insistent and flurried. Everyone had heard of the Lioness, the force behind the most powerful escort agency in the underground. She had never before been seen in public, but everyone knew that no one courted her favor—instead, she picked those she bestowed favor upon.

“Who is she with?” After recognizing the token on her left wrist, they turned their eyes on the man whose arm she was holding.

“I don’t recognize him.”

“Is that Richard Ilytian?” Because the newcomer to the underground was barely recognizable, resplendent in military dress and flared cape, eyes level as a general’s and mouth stern as a warrior’s. He wore the Lioness on his arm like a weapon crafted especially for him.

They paused for a moment, to take in the hush, and moved again when the crowd was just starting to recover.


	4. The Debut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrance effected, the Lioness must now help her Target navigate a room full of crime lords.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like my vague "north," my vague "highlands" has nothing to do with any actual known highlands.

As they entered the hall and were announced, the host came to meet them. He was a big Northerner, also in paramilitary dress and a thick, fur-collared cape. “Welcome, welcome! Richard Ilytian and of course, the Lioness.” He clapped the young man on the shoulder and kissed the lady’s hand. “Ilytian, I never knew you were part of the Royal Guard.”

“Five years in the service of the king.”

“It’s rare to meet a fellow guardsman. Come in, come in!”

Richard Ilytian turned to the Lioness. “I asked your drink from the agency, they said not alcohol?”

“They were correct.”

“They said ginger ale?”

“Yes.”

His lips twitched. “I’ll get you a drink.”

They parted first, and the Lioness was approached by different parties. The Manager may have launched her well, but it only meant more questions about her credibility. So she greeted each party and introduced herself, letting them test her if they were aggressive and offering information about them if they weren’t. This was important; she couldn’t play safe. To take Richard Ilytian seriously, they needed to know she knew what she was talking about. At the very least, they needed to know they couldn’t trick the boy when she was around, and even when she wasn’t. When she stepped away, he needed to be firm on both his feet.

The host claimed Richard Ilytian the moment he approached the bar, forcing the other guests to give him right of way. Richard Ilytian turned to greet him again, then ordered drinks for all of them without asking what his host’s drink was. _Memorize this,_ the Lioness had said in the limousine.

“Coming with the Lioness is a gauntlet on the ground, you know that.”

“With a weapon in my hand, sir.” _He was two ranks above you when he retired._

“Very true.” The host walked back to the Lioness with him.

 _Oh thank heaven._ The host’s attention to Richard Ilytian was something that would put him in favor, at least with those who wished to curry it. The Lioness accepted her glass with thanks, and a casual glance around the room. Lines and alliances were being drawn around and between them, coming to the surface now that a star was rising. The hardest part was yet to come.

First they circled, taking part in the refreshments and entertainment. _Ice-breakers. Use them to open a topic of conversation_. It was normal to be bold-faced in seeking connections, but Richard Ilytian was not like that. With the host’s favor and the Lioness’s presence, however, others came and introduced themselves (partly to be introduced to the Lioness).

Richard Ilytian’s first presence carried weight from his dress uniform and cape, confirmed by the Lioness on his arm and the greeting of the host. Now, as they circled the room, Richard noticed that when people approached, they listened to hear what he was saying, and spoke while watching their words. The Lioness’s choice gave his words power, and her presence gave them pause. Richard had come in as a soldier; it was his most secure identity, and it never left him.

When the first rush had dwindled, another man in dress uniform approached, no pretense in his bearing. He was with two others in the same regiment’s dress uniform. _Darren Volaré needs what you have, and you want to partner with him. I don’t mean just for business, and neither will he. Oh, and he’s also a bit traditional about . . . women._

Richard Ilytian was the first to hold out his hand in greeting. “Richard Ilytian, 7th Royal Guard. This is my escort, the Lioness.”

Because he had initiated the introduction and included his escort, Darren Volaré could not ignore the Lioness. He shook Richard Ilytian’s hand, and accepted the Lioness’s curtsey with a kiss on her hand, like he would greet a consort or legal wife. “Darren Volaré. My kinsmen, Tristan and Peter Volaré.” Both men bowed, and Richard Ilytian and the Lioness reciprocated. “I don’t have enough fancy words, so I’ll get straight to the point. I heard you have land overlooking the A_____ Sea.”

“I do. Would you like to walk with me there one day?”

“Walk with you?”

“There’s a spot on the highlands where you can see all the way to the reef and islands on a clear day. Would you walk there with me?”

_“Why do I want him on my side if he doesn’t respect you?” Richard Ilytian had asked. “Precisely because he doesn’t respect me,” the Lioness had replied. “Anyone who has come into contact with Darren Volaré knows he doesn’t have a false bone in his body. If he takes your word at face value, despite my presence, and I do nothing to dissuade you, you both gain credibility. They also figure out a little more of your nature. Darren Volaré doesn’t trust easily.”_

“When?”

“I’m visiting the coast in the next week. If you’re free, shall we visit it together?”

“It might be too much trouble.”

“Not at all.”

Those pleasantries settled, both men shook hands and parted ways.

_Oh thank heaven._


End file.
